


Things That Needed to be Heard

by garlic8reath



Category: The Venture Bros
Genre: Billy has very complex feelings about White, M/M, Pete cares deeply for Billy but he's too much of a dipshit to express it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 14:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13390269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garlic8reath/pseuds/garlic8reath
Summary: Billy has a moment of reflection after the events in “The Silent Partners”





	Things That Needed to be Heard

**Author's Note:**

> Another old Vbros fic, from May 2014, crossposted from my tumblr. Billy and Pete are a couple of sad court jesters.

A tense silence hung over the trailer that night. No noises from console gaming, the sounds of simulated violence, the bouts of laughter over some in-game absurdity, or the rare, but intense episodes of gamer rage. Nor were there sounds of discussion, tongue-in-cheek or serious, over even the most banal film. Not even was the silence punctuated by argument, like it had been for the past few weeks.

Truth was, the silence had followed Billy and Pete home from the Venture Compound like a rancid odor. Pete had retreated immediately to his end of the trailer, behind the thin sliding door, leaving Billy to smolder alone on the couch.

Monstroso’s words were still echoing in Billy’s head, and while a part of him screamed that this is a professional supervillain we are talking about here, a killer; he was manipulating you so you would help him, another part of him held onto those words that had struck most deeply. It was true that Billy could do better, he could leave this life of failed super-scientists behind, he owed White nothing. Even if those papers Monstroso had issued him had been forgeries, even if he was left in the same limbo of illegal surgeries done for costumed criminals as before, nothing was stopping him from moving on from this ragtag group he called friends.

Friends. If that was what they really were. Billy wasn’t so sure what to think anymore. Venture, the grounds for his friendship were shaky as it was; a trainwreck of humanity who sometimes called on him for favors. As for White… He was something else, something Billy had trouble defining.

White was the source of all of Billy’s problems, the one who had gotten him mixed up in this world of has-been scientists and supervillains and government agents. White was kind of an ass, and arguably a deadweight, especially so after they had started receiving checks from The Investors. White, who had brushed off Billy’s worries as if they were nothing, apparently more concerned for the stupid crap they had bought than for Billy’s life.

It would be so much easier to hate White, to remove him from his life. Billy knew that he’d be justified in hating him too, for all that had happened. And yet… No matter how much he replayed the incriminating events in his mind, no matter how much he worked himself up to be resentful, he just couldn’t. He was fiercely angry with White, but he couldn’t bring himself to hate him.

Billy sighed, and rested his face in his palms, the natural one slightly stiff and sticky from being clenched for so long. Billy wanted to stay angry, but being angry was exhausting, and it had been too long of a day. Instead, he let his mood begin to fade into a sort of dull dismay over the conflicting feelings he held for the man he lived with.

Billy was thinking of putting on a movie, or browsing for Rusty Venture figures on ebay to cool down and take his mind from its conflict, when he began to hear White groaning from the other end of the trailer. It was not uncommon for Billy to hear White making little cries or groans of distress during the night– or sometimes the day, given White’s erratic sleep schedule, but sometimes Billy would investigate, to make sure he was alright.

Billy found himself entering White’s end of the trailer, though thoughts of White’s health were not on his mind. White was curled up under his blankets, facing the wall of the trailer, still uttering his little distraught sleep-noises. Billy sat himself on the edge of the bed, the ancient mattress creaking as he did so; strangely enough, despite having had so much money as of late, none of it had found its way into improving the two’s household accommodations.

“I wish I knew why you cry at night.” Billy said, knowing White was far too asleep to hear him. “Something must have happened to you before, right? Someone hurt you before and you never really recovered. I know that’s why you push me away, and why you pretend not to care.”

Billy would never have dared to say this White had he been awake, but just the act of voicing these thoughts was somewhat cathartic; it gave him a chance to answer his own million-dollar question: why it was that he stayed with White for all these years.

“You really test me sometimes, you know. And sometimes it makes me wonder if you really care or not. But… I’ve seen enough of you to know you do; maybe that’s why I can’t stay mad at you. When we met, that was the first time someone who wasn’t my mom wanted to help me. And even though you really fucked up… You stayed with me all this time.”

Tears were dripping from Billy’s one functional eye, and he clung to the edge of the mattress as he continued: “Sometimes you do these little things that let it slip that you care, and… I don’t think you realize how much they mean to me. I kept that stupid drawing you did of us on our stock certificates, and… When you gave me a high-five for the first time, when we were gladiators, I… I didn’t realize I could jump that high!

"I guess it’s kind of stupid that I’m talking to your unconscious body,” Billy said as he stood up, preparing to leave, “But… I guess that sometime in the past twenty years I’ve come to… Sort of… Love you. And it really hurts that after all this time, you still don’t trust me enough to be open with me, to tell me that you really care.”

Billy had shuffled across the threshold of the sliding door, and was prepared to shut himself out of White’s space when a sudden last thought occurred to him.

“I’m not gonna leave you, but I’m still mad at you! You owe me a big apology when you wake up! And an explanation for why you thought Robo-bo was a good purchase!”

Satisfied as he was ever going to get this night, and thoroughly exhausted, Billy shut the sliding door behind him, and left to ready himself for bed.

Back in his own bed, Pete lay very still, eyes brimming with tears he had been unable to hold back, his heart aching like someone had reached into his chest and pummeled it. Pete was ordinarily an extremely heavy sleeper, but one of his nightmares had awoken him as Billy was speaking.

Pete hadn’t heard everything Billy had said, but he had heard what needed to be heard. Pete rolled over onto his stomach, and smashed his face into his pillow, furious with himself for everything. Now, he added his staying frozen, not saying anything to Billy as he had poured his heart out to him to his mental stack of things he was furious at himself for.

“Dammit, Billy… You deserve so much better than me.”


End file.
